Gun licensing is a “literacy test”

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In his opinion piece, Literacy test for gun ownership a threat to civil rights, Dave Workman (of Gun Week and SAF) explains how testing before you can exercise a right worked out for blacks a few decades back. The parallels to gun ownership should be useful in our public opinion campaign for gun rights.

 

I also like to bring up registration of Jews and/or homosexuals when someone suggests registration of gun owners.

 

Although some bloggers have occasionally flattered me by saying I first started this meme with my little talk at the first Gun Blogger Rendezvous I can’t take the credit. As I pointed out in my 2005 post CCRKBA Blast Bigotry I first picked it up from Alan Gottlieb and Dave Workman (the author of the opinion piece referenced above) in the late 90s.

 

However, in the present day I probably do push the meme more than almost anyone else. The response I get is similar to that for Just One Question; refusal to address the issue and a loud pronouncement of “That’s ridiculous!” But Heller decision last spring makes the meme all the more powerful. The Supreme Court said the right to keep and bear arms is a specific enumerated right. And that is very powerful language. I puts the right to keep and bear arms on the same level as the most sacred rights in this country. What can the justification be to require government licensing, testing, and registration of other specific enumerated rights? Can freedom of speech and religion be licensed and only allowed to those that have registered with the government duplicate copies of their fingerprints and passed a test? Or can you only get a trial by a jury of your peers if you have a permit? Must you wait weeks, submit to training, and have your permit to have an abortion available to the general public via the public records system?

 

Jeff Soyer and Sebastian have their take on this opinion piece as well.

Quote of the day–William S. Lind

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American and other foreign troops in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan are learning more than how to make IEDs and how effective they can be. They are learning by direct observation how a place works when the state disappears.


…


They will see statelessness as a field of opportunity where people who are clever and ruthless can rise fast and far. They look upon themselves as that kind of people. They will also have learned it is possible to fight the state, and how to do so. The effectiveness of IEDs is part of that lesson; so are the power and rewards that come to members of militias and gangs. In their own minds, and perhaps in reality, they will have found a new world in which they can hope to thrive.


William S. Lind
Director for the Center for Cultural Conservatism for the Free Congress Foundation.
February 3, 2009
On War #290: Blowback Revisited
[Via John Robb (be sure to read the comments).


Great. Just what we need. The economy is crashing and governments (Iceland and essentially Mexico) are falling so gangs and thugs start making things worse.–Joe]

In the spirit of “shared values”

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Paul Helmke of the Brady Campaign wants newly appointed Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) demonstrate she has “evolved” beyond being a NRA A-rated politician. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy is supporting him in this:



“She’s saying she realizes that she represents a statewide constituency,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “One way she could prove she has evolved is to push this issue.”


Helmke said his group is seeking a meeting with Gillibrand to ask her to support legislation to require background checks on gun sales at gun shows, commonly referred to by activists as “closing the gun-show loophole.” A message left with Gillibrand’s office was not returned Tuesday afternoon.


I don’t see Helmke or McCarthy calling on Senator Schumer to “evolve” to represent upstate New York gun owners. I guess “shared values” don’t extend in the direction of supporting the U.S. Constitution.


Since “evolution” only goes in one direction in their minds just what is it they think of NRA members and politicians that support the specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms? Do they think we are chimpanzees or something?


Why doesn’t don’t they just come out and say it? Paul Helmke and the politicians who support him think gun owners are just a bunch of n***ers. If we can’t be exterminated then we need to be regulated and kept in our place.


It’s time for these bigots to arrested and charged with violation of 18 USC 241 and/or 242.

Now that is really funny

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NOT!


Making a call to 911 with a story designed to get the local SWAT team to respond is not safe for anyone. Especially if I survive the call-out to my house and I find the guy who made the call.


From the article:



Doug Bates and his wife, Stacey, were in bed around 10 p.m., their 2-year-old daughters asleep in a nearby room. Suddenly they were shaken awake by the wail of police sirens and the rumble of a helicopter above their suburban Southern California home. A criminal must be on the loose, they thought.


Doug Bates got up to lock the doors and grabbed a knife. A beam from a flashlight hit him. He peeked into the backyard. A swarm of police, assault rifles drawn, ordered him out of the house. Bates emerged, frightened and with the knife in his hand, as his wife frantically dialed 911. They were handcuffed and ordered to the ground while officers stormed the house.


The scene of mayhem and carnage the officers expected was nowhere to be found. Neither the Bateses nor the officers knew that they were pawns in a dangerous game being played 1,200 miles away by a teenager bent on terrifying a random family of strangers.


They were victims of a new kind of telephone fraud that exploits a weakness in the way the 911 system handles calls from Internet-based phone services. The attacks — called “swatting” because armed police SWAT teams usually respond — are virtually unstoppable, and an Associated Press investigation found that budget-strapped 911 centers are essentially defenseless without an overhaul of their computer systems.


I’m thinking it’s time to get rid of my land line.

This makes me feel safer

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From Alan Korwin:



I especially liked the roof-turret mounted, bullet-proof-camera equipped, fully remote controlled, drum fed, suppressed machine gun with 360-degree sweep and elevation control now available for law enforcement vehicles.



Fully mechanized roof-mounted machine gun for police vehicles.
It rotates, elevates and exterminates.


Just the sort of “Hope and Change” one might expect under a socialist regime.


I really need to do some more AP testing this weekend.

A bill to build the camps for us

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I received a forwarded email from Boomershoot participant Joey last night:



Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, D-Fla., has introduced to the House of Representatives a new bill, H.R. 645, calling for the secretary of homeland security to establish no fewer than six national emergency centers for corralling civilians on military installations.


The proposed bill, which has received little mainstream media attention, appears designed to create the type of detention center that those concerned about use of the military in domestic affairs fear could be used as concentration camps for political dissidents, such as occurred in Nazi Germany.


The bill also appears to expand the president’s emergency power.


In a sense, this is true. But as pointed out in Liberal Fascism, in the U.S. Fascism comes with a smiley face. Here is some text from the bill:



(b) Purpose of National Emergency Centers- The purpose of a national emergency center shall be to use existing infrastructure–



(1) to provide temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster;

(2) to provide centralized locations for the purposes of training and ensuring the coordination of Federal, State, and local first responders;

(3) to provide centralized locations to improve the coordination of preparedness, response, and recovery efforts of government, private, and not-for-profit entities and faith-based organizations; and

(4) to meet other appropriate needs, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security


So, yes, these centers could be used as concentration camps (“other appropriate needs”). But it will be for your own good and the good of society if they actually use them. Shared values and all that you see.

Quote of the day–Bill Clinton

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Again, I will say this, it’s not that the country has moved way left. That is not what has happened…. It’s not a leftward movement. It’s a forward, communitarian movement. Shared opportunities. Shared responsibilities. Shared values, including the most important of all: “Our differences are really interesting, and they make life in America much more interesting, but our common humanity matters more.”


Bill Clinton
January 2008
Bill Clinton On Pragmatism (And Guns) In The Obama Era
[“Communitarian, shared opportunities, shared responsibilities, shared values” isn’t leftward? I’ll tell you what my values are and let’s see if these people can share them with me. I value individual rights. I value the right to purchase whatever arms I want, whenever I want, and from whoever I want. I value the right to be left alone to do whatever I want as long as I don’t hurt anyone else or I do it with consenting adults. I value the right to privacy in my communication with others which includes all of my financial transactions (which makes a tax on income impossible to enforce). I value the right to chose my own health care providers (including the null set). I value the right to travel freely and anonymously. And that’s just the start.


Now tell me what “shared values” we have. Mr. Clinton and his groupies just don’t get it. Nearly everything they work toward, claiming “shared values” and “shared responsibilities” are diametrically opposed to my values, the principles this country was founded upon, and the constitution which he swore to defend. Why is this impeached, disbarred, lying piece of crap still given any credence in American life?–Joe]

Representing all her constituents

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Schumer and others are complaining that the new Senator from New York, Kirsten Gillibrand, doesn’t represent all her constituents and her Gun Control Stance Upsets Many and predict they will be able to twist her arm into violating the Second Amendment:



“Now, as she begins representing the whole state, I look forward to working with her to help her gain a broader understanding of the problems affecting New York City so she can be an effective advocate for all New Yorkers.”


…


During the press conference yesterday, Senator Schumer said he was sure Gillibrand’s stance would “evolve” once she got to know downstate issues.


When I read that I read it as “down south” issues. Further translation comes out like the following.


Sure, we have a 13th Amendment that prohibits slavery but that doesn’t mean we can’t have common-sense regulation of those n***ers. Just because up north they let them run around like they are just as good as anyone else doesn’t mean that we have to let them walk around in public like they belong in polite society. Once Gillibrand gets a “broader understanding” of the situation I’m sure she be able to be an effective advocate for both the bigots and the n***ers.

Just so you know

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From our friend in Israel;



Friends:

 

Considering the number of Kassam and Grad rockets and the increasing number of mortar rounds being fired into Israel by Hamas in Gaza, I’ll keep the “Gaza War” group designation for a while longer.  As a practical matter Israel gained nothing but the world’s condemnation for its recent attempt to stop the terrorist fire.

 

The election rhetoric here is twilight-zone material.  The folks in power speechify as if they were the party in opposition.  They cry about how much change there needs to be.  Hell you are the government.  You should have done long ago what you attack (who?) for not having done.  How dumb do you think the voters are?  Obviously you think they are even dumber than I think they are. 

 

GO STEELERS!

 

Israel and the U.S. do have a lot in common.

 

And being as Israel isn’t doing anything about it right now, it isn’t “news”.

 

How hard is it to understand that since you’re going to be condemned either way, you may as well do the right thing?  The Republican Party leadership, for instance, continues to fail in that regard, though we can hope.

 

The War against the German national socialists and Imperial Japanese wasn’t won through decades of “ceasefires” for example.  It was won and they became allies after they were defeated.  Republicans; are you listening?

Details of SWAT raid against the mayors home

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This happened some time ago. But the Washington Post has a very detailed story on what happened. If you like dogs bring lots of tissues to soak up some of the tears.


After all the emotion (I’m not saying this is a bad thing) is filtered out here are the nuggets I found interesting:



After the detective left, Cheye studied the document. There was nothing anywhere to indicate that Scarlata had asked the judge who signed it for permission to break his door down for a no-knock search. He hadn’t presented the judge with evidence that anyone in the household was armed and dangerous. He’d basically said that police had intercepted a box of drugs addressed to Trinity, delivered the box and watched as it was taken inside.


…


Americans have defended their right to privacy and the sanctity of their homes since Revolutionaries denounced British soldiers entering homes and businesses with impunity to search for contraband rum and tea and generate taxes for the British Crown. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits unreasonable government searches and seizures. But civil libertarians argue that this constitutional protection has been seriously eroded in recent decades, largely as an unintended consequence of the nation’s war on drugs.


…


He’s read the court’s decision in one 2006 case, Hudson v. Michigan, more than once. In Hudson, the court found that even when police make a clearly illegal no-knock raid, the evidence they seize can still be used against a defendant at trial.


“In other words, police can do what they did to us with impunity” Cheye concluded. “There are no consequences, not for them.”


Thanks to reader Chet for the email pointing to this. He also asks:



Question to ponder: What is the proper defense against this sort of thing (other than getting rid of the war on drugs and the swat teams)?


I expect that if you grab a gun, you will likely be shot by overwhelming force. And you will be presumed guilty especially if they find cash, ammo, or other weapons on your property.


The gun trainers I know give the advice to say nothing, physically cooperate, and ease your anger thinking about what you are going to do with all the money you get from the lawsuit.


There are some people being pro-active by setting up sting operations where they have a house set up with lots of cameras and then turn on lots of lights to generate a abnormally high electric bill. When the cops show up with flash-bangs and guns blazing the cameras are rolling and they find nothing but public humiliation and a lawsuit waiting for them. The only thing I would add to that is that I would make sure the video was streaming to servers in other states and, where jurisdictions allowed it, I might be inclined to add a few of those “bad-guy” paper targets and some flash-bangs of my own to the mix.

Quote of the day–Brian Doherty

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In the face of an administration that undoubtedly only respects gun rights to the extent that its supporters have the political power to harm it, gun rights forces do need to keep their powder dry; perhaps even excessively stocked. Paranoids may not always have real and effective enemies, but in politics, as in life, paranoia can keep you safe.


Brian Doherty
January 30, 2009
The President Is Not a Gun Slinger: Why the 2nd Amendment is safe under President Obama—for now
[H/T to SayUncle. The way I look at it the only way you can have too many guns or an excess of ammo and explosives is if starts cutting into ability to shelter yourself or your supply of medicine, water, food, and sex.–Joe]

I’m the father of Scarlett

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Kris probably won’t think I’m young enough to be Scarlett O’Hara’s father and Barb doesn’t think I’m old enough.


But I assure you this is my daughter and it’s obvious she is Scarlett.

Outstanding Freshman

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Daughter Kim informed me the other day that the University of Idaho has nominated her for an “Outstanding Freshman” award.


Barb and I are very proud of her.


We already knew she was outstanding but it’s nice to find out others think so too.

Media Jungle at Boomershoot 2009

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Last week I got a call from Nathan at Media Jungle. They make shows such as Adventures Abroad, Western Extreme, and Wild Encounters for Outdoor Channel.


Nathan wanted to confirm they will be welcome (well, DUH!) at Boomershoot 2009. I was rather distracted by some other stuff going on at my office at the moment and didn’t catch the name of the show or the talking head. But they will be doing some autograph signing as well as filming and shooting.

Boomershoot 2009 position available

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The availability of position 43 will be enabled at 12:00 Noon Pacific time today. Sign up here if you think you are fast enough to grab it before someone else does.


Update: Gone in two minutes.

Quote of the day–Len Savage

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I am a witness in a still pending case, and I am being “leaned on.” This is not the first time ATF has taken out vengeance during a court case.


Len Savage
Owner Historic Arms LLC
January 31, 2009
Gun trial witness: Feds out for ‘vengeance’ Government’s action costing business thousands of dollars.
[Yup. Albert Kwan also comes to mind.–Joe]

School Shooting Match

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My son Alex is part of a high school school trap shooting team.  They had a match this morning near Rosalia, Washington, which was attented by several high school teams from around the region.  Trap is quite popular in Eastern WA, as this is one of the best places in the country for pheasant and quail hunting, to say nothing of the excellent duck and goose hunting opportunities.  From the shooting lines today, we saw several hundred geese in the air.


 



Above; No, it isn’t a crime scene or a network news story.  It depicts a fun event in which kids use guns and sharpen their skills on aerial targets, and so, by definition, it isn’t “news”.  The parking lot was packed with similar vehicles, open, loaded with guns and ammo.  Most people don’t bother to lock their vehicles, me included.



Above; an appropriately named school district.



Above; Alex in full target-busting mode.  That’s a decent hit– lots of small fragments.  If you hit one full-on, it disappears in a cloud of dust.  Scoring is the same either way.  If you break a little piece off the target, it’s a hit, same as a “duster”.



A great time was had by all.  Everyone was super nice.  There were decent facilities for those who wanted to stay warm and there was free coffee and decent food at very reasonable prices.  This locally operated club range was equipped with four trap houses, meaning 20 kids can be on the shooting line at one time.


I’d guess there were about 80 shooters attending and about 150 to 200 people there in total– Guns and ammo lying about everywhere, much like you’d find skis and poles sitting out on stands in front of a ski lodge.  Now if we were to take anything the anti gun-rights loons say with a shred of seriousness, we’d assume that all these kids would end up turning on each other in a bloddy shootout, as the stresses of competition became too much for them to handle, or something.  In fact, everyone was relaxed and friendly.  I will point out that, unlike a typical football game, there are no paramedics on standby at these events.  There would be no point in it.


Alex broke 26 of 50 targets, which isn’t bad, but a really good shooter would have hit 50 of 50.  Today there was some gusting wind, so even a really good shooter might have missed one or two because the targets were jumping around a bit in the wind.  If you’ve ever thrown a Frisbee in the wind you what know what I mean.  These clay targets fly a lot like little Frisbees.

Quote of the day–Jeffery Rosen

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This summer, I talked to security experts on both sides of the political spectrum, and had several conversations with Chertoff, in an effort to answer the following question: Is DHS achieving its mission of making us safer? My reluctant conclusion is that, although Chertoff has performed impressively in an impossible job, the department is hard to justify with any rational analysis of costs and benefits. On the contrary, it’s arguably one of the most expensive marketing ventures in political history–an enterprise that seeks to make us feel safer instead of actually making us safer. The best argument for DHS is that the illusion of safety may itself provide tangible psychological and economic benefits: If people feel less afraid, they may be more likely to fly on planes. But even if conceived on these terms–as a more-than-$40-billion-dollar-a-year pacifier–the department is hard to defend, since there’s no good evidence that it has, in fact, calmed Americans down rather than making us more nervous.


Jeffery Rosen
December 24, 2008
Man-Made Disaster—Six years on, the Department of Homeland Security is still a catastrophe.
[$40 Billion a year pacifer? Yup. That sounds about right for government work.


H/T to Bruce Schneier.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Sarah Brady

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This week, the NRA filed outrageous papers in federal court … impugning our Brady members and organization in our fight against the Bush Administration’s last minute rule allowing guns in our National Parks.

 

In the court papers filed this week, the NRA says they:

 

deny that the Brady Campaign is a grassroots membership organization or that it is involved in fighting to prevent gun violence;
deny that the Brady Campaign is dedicated to safety;
deny that the members of the Brady Campaign, if any, will face an increased risk because of the new regulation.

 

We’ve worked long and hard to stop the NRA’s “any gun, anywhere for anyone” campaigns and I, for one, won’t stop now.

 

As far as I can remember, this is the first-ever direct strike against the Brady Campaign and its members in court! The gun lobby is reeling after their election defeats and losing ground on all fronts, so they have it in for us for sure.
But we have common sense — and public support — on our side!

 

I won’t stand for their lies — especially lies that call into question the deep dedication of members like you and our long-time efforts to keep our communities safe from gun violence.

 

I say, allowing loaded concealed handguns in our parks and wildlife refuges puts public safety at risk!

 

Sarah Brady
January, 2008
NRA ATTACKS BRADY MEMBERS IN NEW COURT PAPERS
[I find this interesting for a number of reasons.

 

 

  1. I was only able to find this in one location on the net. I tried several different search engines and only one page has this information. Apparently it’s an email sent to Brady donors. I thought I was on the Brady email list but perhaps those lists get purged of people that don’t donate money occasionally.
  2. I think it’s great the NRA is attacking the Brady Campaign on their “grass roots” credentials. To the best of my knowledge they don’t have a membership list, only a donor list.
  3. They think concealed handguns put the public at risk and it appears they may be forced to show the data that proves that. Just One Question may have to be answered in court!

 

–Joe]

Geometric progressions are fun

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Ry sent me an email telling me about $99 1 TByte hard drives:



Don’t know if you’re in the market to upgrade (I’m not), but NewEgg is selling 1tb sata drives for $99 with free shipping.


this is the item:


 


use discount code: EMCABCKFC


Interesting. My first hard drive was a 10 MByte which I purchased in 1984. And the 1 TByte drives have been out for two years now.


Assuming the rate of data density increases at a constant rate we can compute when we will have drives of even more more mind boggling capacity.


10 TByte drives should be available in 4.6 years.
100 TByte drives should be available in 9.2 years.
1 PByte drives should be available in 13.8 years.
1 EByte drives should be available in 27.8 years.
1 ZByte drives should be available in 41.4 years.
1 YByte drives should be available in 55.2 years.


Of course using all the data is going to take a lot of computing horsepower. Like maybe a supercomputer.


I have just the thing for you…


Sign up NOW (the deadline is January 31st) to have a chance at receiving:



  • A Cray CX1 desk-side supercomputer

  • One of 10 Premium MSDN Visual Studio Professional subscriptions

  • One of 10 Xbox 360 consoles